Improvement in water-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES D. WRIGHT, OF LEESVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WH EELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,578, dated August 22, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. WEIGHT, of Leesville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Square-Dish VaterWVheel 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure lis a side elevation of this invention; Fig. 2, a top view of the same, partly in section.

Similar letters ot' reference indica-te like parts.

This invention relates to an iron water-wheel which actually combines the direct and reacting effect of the water as the same strikes and leaves the wheel.

The buckets are made in the form ot'a square dish, with ilaring sides and a curved bottom, and they are fastened to the arms by means ot tianges which are made solid with or otherwise attached to the ends of the arms, and the hub is cast with the shaft-hole and the arms in it, so that a cheap and durable wheel can be produced, and that by the peculiar form ofthe buckets the water acts in a direct way with great advantage, and, furthermore, a reacting force of the water on the periphery of the Wheel is obtained.

A represents the hub of my wheel, which is cast with the shaft-hole and with the arms in it, and which is tted to a wooden or iron shaft in any suitable manner. Where cheapness is a prime object I use a wooden shaft.

The arms BV may be made ot'wrought or cast iron, and they are provided at their extreme ends with lianges a, to which the buckets C are secured. In practice one or two screws will be sufficient to retain each bucket in its place, said buckets being provided with flat seats to lit to the lian ges on the ends of the arms,

as clearly shown in the drawings, particularly in Fig. 2, where oneof the buckets is shown in.

section. The buckets are cast or otherwise produced ot' metal, and they are made in the form of square dishes. The bottom b of each bucket consists of a segment of acylinder, and its outside, e, is daring, so that the water, on being discharged over the periphery of the wheel, reacts and all its power is utilized. The wateris intended to beleton this wheel through a trough placed at au angle of forty to fortyfive degrees, more or less, according to the size of the wheel and the height ot' the fall. No scroll or guide curves are used, and as lthe water strikes each bucket somewhat above the middle of its height, it propels the wheel by direct action, and in discharging from the curved bottom and over the Haring side it reacts and a large percentage of its full force is utilized.

By these means a wheel can be produced which is very cheap and durable, and, furthermore, gives a very good effect. No rubbish coming down with the water is able to choke my wheel, and it sustains Very little or no obstruction by ruiming in back-water. It is applicable under falls of different height, large or small, though its effect is best under high falls, where the water willstrike it with considerable velocity, and on account of its cheapness and simplicity it can be put up in places Where agood water-wheel ofthe ordinary construction would be out of question.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The buckets C, formed of a section of a cylinder, with the ends flaring from the bottom and connected to the arms B by the Bauges a, all substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES D. WRIGHT.

Witnesses:

J As. H. BROWNELL, A. E. PURPLE. 

